A woman full of vices

"King Kong Theory", by the famous French intellectual Virginie Despentes, revolutionized intellectuality after its publication in 2006. Despentes uses the figure of Peter Jackson's King Kong to celebrate sexuality prior to binarism, an Edenic state like punk-rock and its intention to dynamite established codes, especially those of gender.

Eighteen years later, it is brought to the theater under the direction of Alexandra von Hummel, plus the adaptation by Manuela Oyarzún, in a text that will review Despentes' testimonies about her own rape at the age of 17, her decision to become a prostitute, as well as directing pornographic films.

On stage, Patricia Rivadeneira and Antonia Zegers will display “A woman full of vices” using Despentes' provocative but at the same time reflective language, as two women who could be the same person; or versions of the same body: the one that was, the one that is and the one that will be. Both dress in Coco Chanel suits to reflect a vital journey through their voices - which represent those of many - thus exposing an internal conversation that comes and goes, that advances and that recedes, and that demonstrates, as the French intellectual pointed out, that "the same thing that disfigures us, constitutes us."

Rivadeneira had already participated in an Argentine adaptation of the play, which passed through the Nescafé de las Artes Theater in 2023. According to El Culto La Tercera, an idea appeared in the actress. "Let's do a Chilean version, covering the entire book. And then I invited Antonia, who was very enthusiastic because it is a very provocative and courageous book. Virgine Despentes went through her entire life to write it and she trembled when she remembered moments like the rape she suffered and that 30 years had passed. I think that all women in particular, and I hope that men too, are dazzled. It dazzles us because people don't care. "He likes to tell his wounds," the actress points out.

In the same publication, Antonia Zegers tells what this woman represents in the past and the future. "There is a very interesting game there that reminds me of a film by (Ingmar) Bergman called Persona, which has the game of two women who begin to confuse which is which. That device is put in this montage," explains Zegers.

Based on “King Kong Theory” by Virginie Despentes | Playwriting: Manuela Oyarzún Grau | Director:Alexandra von Hummel | Cast: Patricia Rivadeneira and Antonia Zegers | Special participation Francisco Silva | Lighting design: Julio Escobar | Sound design: Antonio Blondel | Costume design: Francisco Silva | Executive production: Patricia Rivadeneira | A Nescafé Theater of the Arts Production